Loves Bittersweet Aftertaste
by dreambigwriteoutloud
Summary: Jerome Clarke has always had his eyes on Mara Jaffray, and recently they have become a couple. They had a bit of a summer romance if you will, but now, Clarke is trying to decide whether it will last or not. It seems Mara has changed, and not for the better, unfortunately. Could Jerome possibly be starting to fall for someone else? *Rated T-M for further chapters
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys, I know i havent updated some stories in a while, but with the new season of HoA i thought I'd give you guys a little something to read while I try and get caught up! I hope you enjoy, read, review, tell me what you think! xx c:**

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Anubis house was always a rather interesting house. All of its inhabitants seemed to be content with it, but for some others, Anubis was more than a place to live; it was THE place to live. For Willow, Anubis House was the best house on campus, and she was determined to do anything she had to in order to live there. When Willow heard that her former house mate KT scored a room at Anubis, you could imagine the girl was jealous. No, jealous wasn't quite the correct word. Envious was more appropriate, though she hardly showed it. After all, it really wasn't KT's fault. Sure, she stole the spot that Willow had been waiting two years for, but surely she didn't do it on purpose.

Willow, having a slight obsession with Anubis House, was always slipping into the house to visit the students that lived there. Mainly the reason was to try to get a room at Anubis. Willow figured if she got close to the students, maybe they would help convince Mr. Sweet to let her stay there permanently. Oh, that would be the day alright. She could hardly bare to think about it. With a wide smile, the girl threw her school bag across her bedroom so that it slid under her bed and proceeded to skip away, pushing straight through the doors of Isis and making her way to Anubis for her daily visit. Her trips to Anubis house have become a regular thing now. Some of the kids thought it a bit strange at first, but they've learned to accept it. Well, most of them have anyways.

Then of course, there was Mara. Mara did not like Willow at all purely based off of the fact that Willow had been trying to 'steal' –as she puts it– the spare bed in Amber's room from her since the first day of the new term. The dark haired girl felt as though Willow was only there to steal her room, and her boyfriend. Oh yes, that's right. Mara Jaffray was actually jealous of Willow Jenks. She thought that somehow Willow would end up stealing Jerome from her. She knew all about the huge crush she used to have on the boy, and didn't like it one bit. In fact, Mara _hated_ it, and there were very few things in the world that Mara Jaffray tagged with the word 'hate'. Not knowing of this, Willow just assumed everyone felt the same way about her as most people did. Most people saw her as the odd girl, who was nice but _interesting _as they usually put it. She was in no way a boyfriend stealer, and she had never really planned on becoming one.

The truth of the matter was simple. Yes, she had had a huge crush on Jerome for some years now, but that didn't mean she was going to take him from his girlfriend. Willow respected their relationship, and simply admired the boy from afar. That was another thing that bothered Mara. Whenever Willow and Jerome were in the same room, she had a pretty good guess as to what the silly girl was thinking. She didn't like how Willow tried to deny her feelings towards Jerome, when actually she wasn't denying them at all but simply not showing them while he has a girlfriend. To do so would be completely disrespectful and rude. Besides, Jerome barely knew the poor girl existed.

Reaching her desired destination, her sparkling green eyes gazed up at the house as they always did, as she let out that same gasping sigh of awe. Her smile grew wider, getting more excited. "Squee!" the girl exclaimed in delight, giddily clapping her hands whilst jumping up and down. The girl couldn't resist rushing right inside, heading straight for Amber's room. The door was open, she found. Casually, Willow crept in and looked around, that same look of awe on her face. "How exquisite!" As she continued to look around, a slight frown came across her when she saw all of Mara's things piled on the other side of the bed. She still wasn't finished resettling in. Willow traced the walls with her hands as she walked the perimeter of the room that was almost hers. A ruckus from downstairs caused the girl to jump, backing away from the wall. "Eek!" her voice squealed. The brunette peeked her head out into the hall to see what all of the fuss was about. Her eyes widened when she saw who it was, her mouth forming another smile.

"Hi Jerome," she said in that soft, but high and excited tone of hers. The blonde looked up and met Willow's eyes. He was actually glad she was there. Maybe she could help him with his dilemma.

"Oh, hello Willow," he sounded. "I don't suppose you could come down and give me a hand?" Her facial expression immediately turned from excited to see Jerome to wide eyes and a gasped look, as if she had just found out an incredible secret. Her jaw literally dropped, and her head poked back inside the room. The girl's eyes closed, her hands overlapping each other across her chest as she backed into the wall and slid down it. Talking out loud to herself, she gave herself a mini fangirl moment.

"He want's _my _help," she whispered, letting out a happy sigh. Standing, she rushed back out the door to the top of the stairs, ready to come to Jerome's aid. "I can help you Jerome!" she squeaked. That was when it became clear what exactly he needed help with. It seemed as though Mara was having him bring up even more of her stuff to her new room. How much stuff could one girl have for crying out loud? Just the same, it must have been awfully heavy, for it appeared as though the tall blonde had dropped the box seeing as how its contents were spilt. "Oh dear, I can see why you want help!" The girl started to rush down the stairs, a serious mistake on her part. Jerome looked up to see the girl rushing and he immediately spoke out to warn her.

"Willow be careful!" she shouted. She hadn't watched her footing, and tripped over an object on one of the steps, slipping –or stumbling– down the stairs.

"Whoa!" was all that she said before she went crashing down the staircase. As soon as she fell, the blonde had moved some of the other things off of the stairs quickly and stepped further up to prevent her from falling any further. Luckily the girl wasn't hurt, and fell straight into Jerome's arms. "Oomf!" she sounded, recalculating what had just happened.

"Whoa, Willow are you okay?" the boy asked her, his arms wrapped around her. It hadn't clicked for the girl yet that she was in the arms of Jerome Clarke; the very boy she had been crushing on for the longest time. Placing a hand on her head, she turned somewhat to face the boy and look him in the eyes yet at the same time still practically cradled in his arms.

"Oh… Jerome…" she said, her expression fading slightly, her green eyes staring into his own. "You saved me," she narrated. A moment of silence passed between them, their eye contact lasting throughout. "Thank you," she added. The blonde suddenly realized that he was still staring at the girl. Snapping back to reality he coughed, clearing his throat and helped Willow stand upright.

"Yeah, well I couldn't just let you fall down the stairs," Jerome said, trying to avoid staring at her anymore. The girl peered over at him, her blank expression still there.

"Right," she said simply. "Well let me help you now," the brunette insisted. The two of them cleared the stairs of the rest of Mara's things, putting them back in the box. Their hands accidentally touched as the both reached to pick the box up.

"Oh… I'm sorry," the boy apologized, his cheeks flushing with the slightest shade of pink that was barely noticeable. Clearing his throat yet again, he bent over once more to get the box. "Here, I'll get it Willow, it's rather heavy."

"Well the least I could do is help carry it." Willow touched his hand with hers, grabbing the box as well. There it was again; that awkward pause of silence and eye contact, only this time Willow had a slight smile on her face. "Something wrong, Jerome?" The blonde again snapped back into things and shook his head no. He hid his face for a moment, turning away. Willow in return, turned the same way, looking to see if he was alright.

"I'm fine, Willow, thank you though. Alright, let's get this thing upstairs; but no falling down this time," he joked. The girl laughed, heading upstairs simultaneously as Jerome did. After succeeding, Willow turned to look at the boy once more.

"I really want to thank you for saving me, Jerome," she said sweetly. Jerome waved her comment away like the whole thing was no big deal. Her expression changed to a rather serious one now. "No really, you were like, amazing. A true hero." The girl gasped a second, looking away only to look right back. "My, hero." Jerome looked up at her to find the girl smiling with her hands folded over her ribcage.

"Right," the blonde noted, a tiny smile of his own starting to show. "Well that's all I really needed help with, so if you–" before he could finish his sentence, Willow ran up and kissed him on the cheek. Incredibly bad timing on her part, unfortuneately, for Mara happened to be walking by at that very second.

"Jerome!" she called, an angry tone to her voice. "And Willow?" Oh boy, was she furious. "What's going on?" the girl demanded. Willow pursed her lips, putting her hands behind her back and slowly stepping back. Jerome turned to face his girlfriend and explain.

"Mara, calm down, it was nothing. Willow was helping me pick up your things that you asked me to bring up since they spilled everywhere. She fell down the stairs, I caught her, and she was just thanking me." Mara crossed her arms, not buying it.

"And she has to thank you with a kiss?" Jerome had no idea what had gotten into Mara lately, but she was acting very bitchy and controlling ever since they got back to school. It was very irritating, and was starting to get on his nerves. Willow, feeling uncomfortable in this situation stepped forward to comment.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I suppose I'll just be going now," she spoke, starting to leave. The blonde reached his hand out, stopping her from leaving. Naturally, she backed up once more to where she had been. Mara's eyes went wide at Jerome's actions, waiting for an explanation. Jerome let out a heavy annoyed sigh, crossing his arms as well.

"I don't need to explain everything I do to you, Mara. If it wasn't for you making me carry all of your things up here for you, Willow wouldn't have come to help me, she wouldn't have fallen down the stairs by tripping over _your _things, and I wouldn't have had to save her." The girl was dumbfounded at what she was hearing.

"What are you saying, Jerome?" The blonde's arms dropped to his sides as he continued.

"I'm saying that you need a serious attitude adjustment, Jaffray." The dark haired girl's expression made it seem like she's never been so offended in her life. Even Willow gasped at that comment.

"Oh is that what you think?"

"That's what I know! Oh, and there's one more thing I wanted to do," he added. Turning around, he took an unexpecting Willow's wrist. Pulling her close into him –causing her to break from a daydream– while cupping the side of her face, the boy kissed her right in front of Mara. Both girls were taken aback by this gesture, one in a good way, the other, not so much. The kiss only lasted about ten seconds, but after it was over, in the silence all you could here was the brunette whisper _wow_.

"Jerome Clarke!" Mara screeched. Jerome turned back around to look at Mara in silence. Pulling Willow along with him, the two left the room, heading downstairs and leaving Mara behind.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So it has come to my intention that it was not quite clear in the previous chapter when I was talking about Willow because of her hair color, SO, I will be referring to her hair as ginger, amber, red/orange**

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Jerome pulled Willow downstairs with him, the girl stumbling a bit on the bottom step. "Where are we going Jerome?" Willow asked, a bit of anxiousness in her voice. He ignored her for a few seconds before answering.

"Hush Willow, not now." The blonde dragged her behind him into the living room. He could hear the other girl's quick footsteps following their steps. Willow gasped slightly in thought.

"Ooh, are we going on an adventure, Jerome? Oh, or playing the silent game? I love both of those things. You know, the silent game was originally created or thought up by…" Jerome stopped them in their tracks, turning back around to face the ginger girl.

"Willow, please, shush." The boy looked her in the eyes to make sure she understood. Her head nodded, letting Jerome know that she did.

"Don't worry Jerome," she began to whisper. "From now on, my lips are sealed." She closed her mouth and pretended to lock it, throwing away the key. A smile formed on her locked lips but soon faded when she saw Mara. Jerome stepped in front of Willow, turning to face the dark haired girl.

"Jerome Clarke! What has gotten into you?" Jerome crossed his arms and pretended to think in a sarcastic manor.

"Oh, gee I don't know Mara. I wonder what it could possibly be, or better yet, what's gotten into _you, _Mara Jaffray? Where's the girl I asked out at the end of last term? You've changed, Mara, and I'm not sure I like this new change." Mara walked up closer to him, standing only a few feet away.

"So what are you trying to say then, Jerome? I'm the same person I was over break." Jerome let out a stiffened laugh as to make fun of her in a way.

"Do you hear yourself, Mara? You are in no way the same as you were last term or over the break. Try listening to yourself sometime and see if no one else tells you the same thing. But for now, I think it's best for you to work on that attitude adjustment, and what better way to do it than to say, take a break?" Mara let out a huge gasp at this, her expression saying it all. Even Willow was shocked.

"What? Jerome!" Jerome sort of gave her that look that said 'sorry, but it is what it is'. He just shrugged his shoulders and looked at her. "You can't possibly be serious!"

"Oh, but I am, Mara. I'm breaking up with you." The dark haired girl was furious. As the blonde turned to walk away, she called after him, screaming.

"Jerome Clarke, I am _not _done with you!" Willow stepped forward slightly, unlocking her lips to speak. The girl cleared her throat before opening her mouth.

"Um, if I may make a suggestion…" Mara was already beyond annoyed with Willow. This just pushed the boundaries of annoyance.

"Willow, go home! This is _not _your house, and it never will be! All you do is cause trouble! Just leave already, no one wants you here!" her screaming had scared the poor Isis girl half to death. A few tears formed in her eyes. She was so upset that no words even came out. Jerome came to Willow's defense yet again, stepping behind her and placing his hands on her arms, ready to lead her out of the room. Willow turned her head away from the other girl, not wanting to be seen, and sort of buried her face in Jerome's shoulder. Jerome usually wasn't one to be all sentimental, but he truly felt bad for Willow. He wasn't about to treat her the way Mara was. Even Jerome Clarke would feel bad if he made her cry.

A sudden memory came to mind. It was a few years ago, and Jerome was talking to Alfie outside of the school. A girl was walking down the pathway; no, not walking, skipping. She had an armful of books, her hair was in pig tails and she had big nerd like glasses on. Some other girls were standing around, and tripped her as she skipped by. Her books went flying in all different directions, the girl falling to her knees. The girl had hurt herself, so she started to cry. The blonde remembered hearing the girl's laughing and calling her Weeping Willow, a nickname that she has accumulated some time before. The girl with the ginger hair turned her face away with embarrassment and ran back to her house after collecting her things once more. Even then, Jerome hadn't laughed at her. He sort of stood by, watching her run away. The same girl that he was defending now.

"If no one wants her here then I'll being going straight out with her," the blonde snapped at Mara, wishing he could say so much more but not daring too while the other girl was there. Jerome turned his head away before Mara could say anything or give any sort of reaction. He led Willow out of the house, wrapping his arm around her. Wow, had it gotten late. Once they were outside, Jerome turned to look at Willow. "Willow?" Jerome called to her. "Do you want me to take you back to Isis?" Her eyes remained staring at the ground, her hair falling to the sides of her face, concealing it. When she nodded, the waves in her hair bobbled back and forth. There was a moment of silence between them, Jerome watching the girl. He started to speak, stopped, and went ahead anyways. "Can you look at me?"

Willow sighed, dried her eyes with her sleeves and when she was ready, looked back up at the blonde. Her eyes were red, and it was clear that Mara had really hurt her feelings. "I'm fine, Jerome," she lied through the shakiness of her voice. "Really. Just, startled, that's all." Jerome wasn't going to push her on the matter, seeing as how it obviously had hurt her. He simply nodded, saying okay, and gave her a slight smile to try and make her feel better.

"Come on," he urged, offering her his hand. "I'll take you home." Willow was seriously both shocked, and surprised when Jerome offered her his hand. Her eyes widened a bit, staring at his hand, and then up at him, her jaw dropped the tiniest bit. Jerome laughed slightly under his breath. Somehow that seemed to comfort Willow, as she quietly slipped her hand into his, locking their fingers. Honestly the amber haired girl had no idea what to think, say, or feel. This is the boy that she had had a crush on for years, mind you. She took a deep breath, her shoulders rising, and let it out as her arms fell back to her sides. As they started the walk over to Isis, Willow gazed up at the night sky. They were surrounded by a hazzy full moon and the few stars that already started to come out as the sky was getting darker.

"It was very sweet," she whispered. "What you did for me." In her head she was still trying to sort out that kiss as well as everything else. Jerome had just broken up with Mara right in front of her. What was she supposed to think? What was she supposed to expect? It was all so confusing to the poor girl. Maybe she should just go back to –not so– secretly liking Jerome from afar. The blonde chuckled, looking straight out in front of him. Jerome knew that Willow had a crush on him. That was part of the reason why he had kissed her, but also to make Mara jealous. It was also the reason that he had offered her his hand to hold on the way back. Although no one really ever got to see this side of Jerome, the boy started to think to himself that maybe he should show it more often.

"Thanks. I just didn't think she should have treated you like that. She's normally a much nicer girl, but I guess that girl left when vacation did." Willow looked over at the boy standing beside her.

"I see," she said. "Well I can understand how you must be feeling. Jerome looked to the side to lock eyes with the ginger. He cocked his head to the side a minute, staring into her green eyes.

"You can?" Willow nodded, smiling slightly. They hadn't realized yet, but they had arrived at Isis house at that moment.

"Of course," she started. She would have continued if she hadn't realized that they were there so soon. She turned to greet Isis house with a smile. "Oh, I guess we're here. Willow released his hand and looked up at him. "We could continue this talk another time, if you'd like," she said, eagerly hoping that he would say yes. That was when another thought came to her mind. "Unless of course you'd like to come in with me?"

Jerome was unsure at first, but soon decided, why not. He had two hours until curfew, and oddly enough he actually kind of enjoyed talking to Willow. A few years ago, Jerome would have never thought he would be talking to her, let alone kissing her, or holding her hand. "Sure, why not?" Jerome replied. The way her face lit up was literally indescribable.

"Squee!" she cheered to herself, smiling and taking his hand again, gently pulling him along. As they entered the house Willow gave him a brief mini tour. "So, what should we do?" she asked him, not really letting him answer before listing things, talking with her hands. "We could play a game, or listen to music, or watch a movie, oh! I have a really good movie that I just got from my Mum. It's one of those nature films about Koala Bears and there's this one part that's so cute when the baby Koala…" Jerome cut the girl off politely, taking her hand so that she would pause.

"Willow, a movie sounds alright, but do me a favor?" The girl nodded. "How about you let me pick the movie?" Willow agreed, curious to know what the boy would choose. A part of Willow felt like this wasn't real somehow, even though it was. She just never expected to be here, with Jerome. Especially not alone or in Isis together. Jerome gave her a slight smirk. "Good," he responded. "C'mon."


End file.
